15 Times You Were Totally Obsessed With Michelle Obama in 2016

1. When She Told Men to “Be Better"

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Michelle Obama imparted some indispensable advice to women and girls in a conversation with Oprah Winfrey during the United State of Women Summit in June. She told girls to invest time in themselves, saying, “And I think as women and young girls, we have to invest that time in getting to understand who we are and liking who we are. Because I like me! I've liked me for a very long time."

"But you gotta work to get to that place. And if you're going out to the world as a professional and you don't know who you are, you don't know what you want, you don't know how much you're worth, then you have to be brave,” she said. “And then you have to count on the kindness and goodness of others to bestow that goodness on you when you should be working to get it on your own 'cause you deserve it."

She also had some pretty blunt advice for the men: "Be better. Just be better. I could go on, but I'm not,” she said. “You get the point, fellas."

2. When She Opened Up About Race During Her Final Commencement Speech as First Lady

FLOTUS gave her 23rd commencement speech at the City College of New York on June 3, delivering a raw and powerful line about America’s future and what it meant to be a black woman in the White House. "It's the story that I witness every single day when I wake up in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters — two beautiful, black young women — head off to school, waving good-bye to their father, the president of the United States, the son of a man from Kenya who came here to America for the same reasons as many of you: To get an education and improve his prospects in life,” she said. She later expressed this same sentiment on a national stage at the DNC.

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3. When She Performed Carpool Karaoke With James Corden and Missy Elliott

Obama joined James Corden for a very special Carpool Karaoke at the White House, where the two sang to Beyoncé, Stevie Wonder, and then picked up passenger Missy Elliott. The trio performed “This Is for My Girls,” a song championing women for Michelle Obama’s global education initiative Let Girls Learn.

4. When She Gave a Speech at the DNC That Will Go Down in History

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Obama delivered one of the most powerful speeches at the DNC in which she spoke candidly about experiences raising her two children Sasha and Malia in the White House as America’s first black family. “That is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today, I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters — two beautiful, intelligent, black young women — playing with their dogs on the White House lawn,” she said to applause. “And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters — and all our sons and daughters — now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States. So don’t let anyone ever tell you that this country isn’t great, that somehow we need to make it great again. Because this, right now, is the greatest country on earth.” As writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote of that moment (and Obama’s own legacy) in T Magazine, “She said ‘black boy’ and ‘slaves,’ words she would not have said eight years ago because eight years ago any concrete gesturing to blackness would have had real consequences.”

5. When She Gave Democrats Their New Motto: "When They Go Low, We Go High"

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“When they go low, we go high!” became a motto for Clinton supporters after Michelle Obama shared the phrase — her own family’s motto — in a speech at the DNC in July and again during a New Hampshire speech in which she condemned Donald Trump’s comments about sexual assault. The line was meant to inspire voters dogged by Donald Trump’s toxic rhetoric about women, immigrants, and other minority groups. It was so resonant that Hillary Clinton used the line when Trump attacked her over Bill Clinton's treatment of women in the presidential debates.

6. When She Threw a Star-Studded Surprise Birthday Party for Barack Obama

In August, FLOTUS celebrated Barack Obama’s 55th birthday — and his last one in the White House — with a surprise star-studded gala that reportedly included performances by Usher and Stevie Wonder. Guests included Ellen DeGeneres, Nick Jonas, Samuel L. Jackson, and more. To satisfy those who were not lucky enough to be invited, she shared a very romantic post on Instagram.

7. When She Went to CVS With Ellen

Ellen DeGeneres took “Shelley” Obama (the nickname she gave Michelle) to CVS and helped her shop for headphones. The purpose of the trip was to help the first lady readjust to civilian life, but it turned out that shopping with Ellen — who opens packages and scratches CVS employees — is almost a sure way to get kicked out of a store.

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8. When She Threw Shade at Melania Trump for Plagiarizing Her Speech

FLOTUS told Stephen Colbert that she had “no sympathy” for presidential spouses who feel like they have to stand by their spouses. Of course, as the Obamas backed Hillary Clinton, the comment was a veiled dig at the Trumps. She explained that she wouldn’t have supported Barack Obama’s bid for president if she didn’t believe in his platform. “So I stand there proudly, and I hope they are, too, standing with their spouses proudly,” she said. “So no sympathy.” Colbert then asked the first lady if she had any sympathy for Melania Trump amid accusations that she plagiarized Obama’s DNC speech. “Yeah, that was tough,” Obama said with a smile.

9. When She Did a Great Impression of POTUS

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It turns out all the Obama women have a POTUS impression. FLOTUS shared hers with Stephen Colbert on the Late Show, mocking her husband’s slow, drawn-out speaking style.

10. When She Shot the Essence Cover With POTUS

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Essence’s October cover with the Obamas is #RelationshipGoals, but FLOTUS stole the show in an intimate shot of the Obamas that captured the first lady’s silhouette and beautiful curves. When Colbert asked Obama how that moment came about, Obama joked, “You know, Barack is horrible in photo shoots ... and I hate doing photo shoots with him, so I’m sure right there I was saying, ‘Would you just be patient and stop — don’t rush the photographer.’”

A photo of Obama hugging former President George W. Bush at the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in September went viral as an example of unity during such a tense and polarizing election. "It's a great photo that demonstrates genuine bipartisanship," Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, told NBC. "At one time they were political enemies, but they came together for a good cause. In the midst of a nasty election season, people are hungry for anything that can unify us."

Writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, publisher and editor Jon Meacham, activist Gloria Steinem, and actress Rashida Jones wrote thank-you notes to the first lady in the T Magazine. This photo, simple, elegant, iconic, captures so many of the qualities the writers lauded: her authenticity, humility, and a quiet but firm power.

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13. When She Wore That. Dress.

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Obama is arguably one of most fashionable and stylish first ladies in American history, and she topped nearly all of her looks at her final state dinner in October 2016. Wearing her first Versace gown as a first lady — days after delivering a rousing speech on women and girls in New Hampshire — it was likely intended to make a statement. The New York Times explains:

The dress, after all, was made of rose gold … chain mail. As much as it was gracefully cut and draped, it also spoke of armor and female strength, of the need to gird yourself to fight for what you believe in. And it was designed by Donatella Versace, a woman who was famously thrust into one of the most difficult situations of all: having to take over and preserve the company founded by her brother after his murder in Miami. And who, despite a fair number of doubts, has ultimately triumphed — in part by transforming the aesthetic of her company from one built on the power of sex to one built on the power of self.

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"I am humbled and honored to have had the opportunity to dress the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama,” Donatella Versace said in a statement. “Thank you, Michelle, for all the things you have done for America and for the world, and especially, for empowering and inspiring women everywhere.”

14. When She Delivered the Most Powerful Speech of the Election Season

In a raw speech at Hillary Clinton’s New Hampshire campaign rally in October, Obama veered from usual campaign talking points to address a leaked recording in which Donald Trump boasted about sexually assaulting women. His words — and the numerous allegations of sexual assault against him — have “shaken me to my core,” she said. Her powerful speech helped validate and heal the trauma that millions of Americans felt in the wake of the leaked recording in which Donald Trump boasted about sexual assault. “And I have to tell you that I listen to all of this and I feel it so personally, and I'm sure that many of you do too, particularly the women. The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman,” she said. “It is cruel. It's frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. It hurts.”

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15. When She Slammed Donald Trump Without Ever Mentioning His Name Throughout the Election

Obama is so classy that even when she criticized Trump’s policies and bigotry, she did so without once mentioning his name. “When making life-or-death, war-or-peace decisions, a president can’t just pop off or lash out irrationally. No, we need an adult in the White House,” she said during a speech in Pittsburgh in September. She continued: “A presidency doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are. So if a candidate is erratic and threatening, if a candidate traffics in prejudice, fear, and lies on the campaign trail, if a candidate thinks that not paying taxes makes you smart or that it’s good business when people lose their homes, if a candidate regularly and flippantly makes cruel and insulting comments about women — about how we look, how we act — well, sadly, that’s who that candidate really is. That is the kind of president they will be.” There are many more great lines, but you get the idea.

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